Ainscough assists with wind turbine removal

The activity took place at the Walkway Wind Farm and Keltbray Decommissioning was appointed to make safe and recover a fire-damaged nacelle.

Keltbray carried out a number of design development workshops with a view to developing the safest method of lifting the nacelle. A bespoke lifting beam slinging arrangement was chosen and then installed on the underside of the machine base. The nacelle was lifted in a four-point lift configuration from the beam to the front rotor.

To carry out a lift at this height, weight and radius Ainscough, in collaboration with both Keltbray divisions, decided to use a Demag TC2800 lattice jib for the main lift, along with a 450t mobile crane to provide access for the rigging team.

Keltbray Lifting Services produced a lift plan using a 3D model of the structure and surrounding hardstanding prepared by Ainscough’s project engineer, Sam Pitt, which showed the planned location of each crane, and the interface between both cranes during the lifting operations.

Following the set-up of the cranes on site, Ainscough Crane Hire assisted in safely carrying out the lifting operation. Keltbray personnel attached a rigging arrangement to the crane at approximately 70m in the air, with Keltbray Decommissioning operatives removing the remaining holding down bolts from yaw ring level to free up the nacelle load. The nacelle was landed on a reconstructed pad to allow the remaining blades to be removed before it was transported to a storage facility.

“This was a lift programme that required careful planning and consideration of many complex technical issues. Through close collaboration with the teams at Keltbray Lifting Services, Keltbray Decommissioning and WHP the operation was completed in an efficient and safe manner.” said Pitt.